


With This Ink in My Skin We've Sealed Our Fate

by violetshade



Series: Blinded In Chains [5]
Category: Avenged Sevenfold
Genre: F/M, Gates starts to be sexy, Zacky's married??, deathbat tatts, emotional Shads, hot football guys, why has A7X never been on late night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 01:50:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12973098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetshade/pseuds/violetshade
Summary: The band plays on late night and Vi learns a secret of Zacky's.





	With This Ink in My Skin We've Sealed Our Fate

"Fuck, it's 8:30..." Shadows blinked in the morning sun, smiling when he realized she was nestled in his arms. Violet just turned into his chest away from the sun, mumbling.  
The sliding door to the deck opened, "Alright, fuckface. Get in the shower. Violet, you can use Zack's shower. Don't wanna be late." Synyster ushered them inside.  
As Violet shut his door, Zacky couldn't help himself, "Need any help, Vi?"  
"Suck it, Vengeance!" They barely heard her through the door.  
An hour later they were stopping by the studio so the duo could run upstairs and change. Around ten they showed up at the Rockefeller Center. They were shown their dressing room and told they had an hour to get ready and then they would get a sound check.  
"So what song are we playing?" Zacky asked the obvious question of the hour.  
They all looked at each other, wondering which of their angry, profanity-laced songs was appropriate for late night.  
Johnny spoke up first, "I hate to be the one to say this, but this is THE perfect situation to roll out "Dark Redemption."  
Synyster looked at Shadows, "You ready for that?"  
M. turned and paced, looking at the ground and ruffling his hair. Finally he nodded, "Yep. I can do it." He walked over to Violet, "You can't be in my line of sight, though." She nodded.  
"You can't sing a song like that in your aviators, ya know," Raven pointed out.  
"What?" Shadows wasn't sure if he could pull off such a soul bearing song if everyone could see it in his eyes.  
"He's right, man," Zacky agreed, "If we're gonna do this we gotta go balls out, and that means the crowd gets the whole experience."  
"Okay," M. shrugged, "But if I cry on stage in front of America it's you guys's fault." And he walked off.  
Zacky turned to Violet, "Can you do our hair Vi? I don't trust these guys. You know us."  
She smiled, "Fine, but I'm going full on City of Evil on your cute ass." She pulled some of his hair down into his face, "Ill have to do your makeup first, though."  
Zacky clapped his hands, looking forward to what she might do.  
Violet sat him down under the bright lights. She outlined his eyes in black, but then added some purple around that to match the purple that she was going to put in his hair. Violet squirted some gel into her hands and ran it through Zacky's hair, smoothing it forward and down. Then she colored in the sides with the purple. The others clapped and Christ insisted on going next...  
After Johnny was mohawked, Syn was spiked, and Brooks was piecy, M. finally showed back up.  
"You want me to do your eyeliner?" She asked.  
He didn't look at her, "No, I got it."  
Violet narrowed her eyes, taking note of his cool guy attitude, reverting back to the cocky dude that had showed up in her office the day they met. She pretended to blow it off and went back to finishing Syn's makeup. Gates rolled his eyes, letting Violet know she wasn't the only one who had noticed. M. silently sat down and put on his own eyeliner, and left to go warm up when he was done.

Violet and Raven watched behind the cameras as the lights slowly came on, revealing the band on stage.  
"I'm so nervous. Are you nervous?" Violet whispered to Raven as she fidgeted.  
"He's gonna do great, just watch."  
The haunting, bluesy dueling guitars kicked in and Brooks laid down a swing rock beat. Just before he started singing, Shadows put his aviators on his head. The band backed off for the first verse, which immediately grabbed the audience before they tore into the chorus, a minor key meltdown that really began the tone for the song. His heartbroken voice sailed through the hearts of everyone there as they actually listened intently to the lyrics. Violet blinked away her tears. The reprise brought the song together, making sure that if the listener wasn't crying already, they were now, in awe at the raw, naked emotion.  
When they were done, there was an awkward moment of silence before the studio erupted in real applause. Shadows' face, after having that raw, naked emotion written all over it, broke into a relieved smile.  
"Thank you, thank you," He waved as Fallon trotted over, wiping his face with a tissue.  
"Avenged Sevenfold!" They shook hands, "This is definitely different for you guys, but that's unlike anything I've ever heard! I mean, there's not a dry eye in the house! Why did you go with this song?"  
"I wrote this song just a couple of weeks ago, and we just wanted to get it out there."  
"Well I can't wait to hear what else you guys write for this next album, if this is just the beginning," He turned to the audience, "A7X!"  
After the applause had died along with the cameras, Fallon turned to Shadows, laughing, "You could warn a guy." And walked off, shaking his head.  
Back in their room, they all high fived, relieved at what they had just pulled off.  
Shadows bear hugged Violet, whispering in her ear, "I'm sorry I was so cold earlier. It's the only way I could do it." Violet just nodded, understanding.

Back in the limo, Raven got their attention. "We'd like to start doing some of our own photo shoots, that way we can have more control of what's out there. Violet has come up with something I really think you guys should do."  
The band leaned forward.  
"So remember the wrestling photo for Metal Hammer? This is along those lines...you guys have this dark, rebellious, macho image and that's why that worked so well. I want to do football."  
Shadows raised an eyebrow, "Little on the nose isn't it?"  
"Aren't most of your shoots? We make it dark. The uniforms will be black, the helmets black with a white death bat. Eye black as well as dark eyeliner. It's ironic."  
Zacky laughed, donning a truly wicked smirk, "On one condition." He looked at Synyster to finish his thought, who was right there with him.  
"You're the cheerleader." Syn even winked at her.  
Shadows fist bumped him and tried not to bust out laughing.  
"So when are we going to fit this in?" Brooks laid back on the floor.  
"Saturday should give us enough time to get the stuff made."

Their Wednesday radio interview was just Shadows and Zacky.  
"In the studio with us today is Shadows and Vengeance from Avenged Sevenfold. Now I had all these questions lined up, but then I watched Fallon last night. What WAS that!? Anyone listening was put through the ringer and by the end you're like a sobbing mess. I'm sure the question of the hour is, what is this song about?"  
Shadows took a deep breath, "It's basically about second, maybe third or fourth chances. So much of what I've written has been influenced by Jimmy's death and there's a little bit of that there. But when you've dealt with huge loss and you're just being sucked down by the blackness...this is about that moment when someone's pulled you out of that blackness and there's hope, only to have that person walk away."  
"That's so heavy, man. Do you think the metal crowd can handle this?"  
Zacky took this one, "Our real fans will love it because it's a great song. Besides, we also just released "God Hates Us," which is like in your face death metal."  
"Yeah, and then there's that song! The lyric writing going on here is so intense. This song is yeah, being totally devoured by the metal scene. I love it. It's angry, it's driving, it'll piss people off. It's great."  
"Yeah, believe it or not that's another one of M.'s." Zacky added, throwing Shadows under the bus.  
"Really?"  
Shadows laughed, almost embarrassed, "Yeah, I'm getting a lot off my chest."  
"So are you going straight into recording another album with these two on it?"  
"Yeah, that's the plan. We haven't been off tour very long, but we're just itching to get back at it. We're in a really good place right now-our new label, Winged Victory, has really set us up for success."  
"Speaking of them, what are all these rumors about you guys and Violet Shade? The hot Rolling Stone issue, Zacky, apparently you danced the tango with Violet?!"  
Zacky went first, smiling, "Violet's great. So is Raven. I think they understand us and our musical ambitions. We all clicked from day one. Shadows had the idea for the crazy stunt at the club and she was all about it. We all got into it, it was fun. We kid around, have a good time. And the tango, well, I couldn't let Matt have all the fun."  
The DJ laughed, and then turned to Shadows, "So there's really nothing there? I mean, look at these photos!" He held up the magazine, "You did this shoot, go out to dance clubs together, you dedicate a song to her--but there's nothing there?"  
M. laughed, remembering how she made him come just by dancing with him, "Oh there's stuff there. We both freely admit that. But this is what we both want, to keep it business."  
"And you think you can keep this up? She's gorgeous."  
He blushed, "We'll see I guess."

The radio interviews went on like that, as well as the magazines. After already being part of two magazine shoots, the Duo stepped back and insisted the rest be about the band. Most of the time, the Duo was working in their office or talking to the executives, and the band barely saw them. When they piled in the limo Friday afternoon to go to Conan, the couple looked at each other like lovesick teenagers. Shadows had done his hair instead of his backwards hat, hoping she'd like it.  
Almost as soon as they got their dressing room, Conan came in to greet them.  
"Welcome you guys," he shook everyone's hand, and then pointed at M. and Violet, "Now no sneaking off and fornicating in the other dressing rooms, you two! That's what the bathrooms are for." The band died with laughter as the couple rolled their eyes.  
"I was hoping you would accept my request for what to play today." He got a little more serious.  
Shadows folded his arms, "Of course."  
"This other single of yours, 'God Hates Us'?"  
"Isn't that a little...controversial?" Raven asked.  
"Exactly. We can edit out the F word. But thanks to the song you sang on Fallon, everyone is going to be watching tonight."  
Violet nodded, "It's perfect."  
"Alright!" Zacky nodded with the rest of them.  
"You gotta give us a chance to rehearse it a little bit. We haven't played it since we recorded it," Syn chimed in.  
"Sure. In about 15 minutes, you'll have 20." And he waved and left.  
Shadows was pumped and glad he didn't have to sing his heart-on-his-sleeve ballad again.

For those 20 minutes, Violet stared as Shadows screamed into a mic in the way only he could. Even the way he held the mic and gestured with this hands was sexy. When they were done, Raven shoved her in the shoulder, "Back to earth, Shade."

When they stood ready to go on stage, Violet made a split second decision--turning Shadows towards her, grabbing his shirt by the collar, and ripping his shirt all the way down the middle to reveal his seething chest and abs.  
"What the fuck are you doing, Violet?!?!" He got in her face as the band's jaws dropped.  
"Giving the crowd what they want," She shoved his chest,"And pissing you off!"  
He laughed darkly when he saw what she had done, just as they were ushered on stage.

Conan pulled out the Rolling Stone magazine and showed it to the camera, "Our musical guest tonight is led by a rock star by day and a vampire slash dungeon master at night, Avenged Sevenfold!"

Once again, the next day they were all anyone could talk about as Conan's show hit record numbers. They partied all night as usual, waking up late Saturday to go to the studio.

"Alright, Vi, we're here to fulfill one of your dirty sexual fantasies," Zacky gave her a cocked eyebrow when they walked in.  
"Make up, gentlemen." She just acted cocky back.  
Even though they had their own photographers, Raven wanted to do this one mostly himself. Same with make-up. Violet had an idea, and she didn't trust anyone else with it, so she brought in a couple of other make up artists to follow her lead. They all got messed up hair that faux-looked like they had just had helmets on, as well as dark, smudged eyeliner. She took out all their face jewelry, dirtied up their faces, and bloodied up their jerseys. The finishing touch was the eyeblack that she had had made: stick ons that had their logo in one and "A7X" on the other.  
"Talk about something I never thought I'd be wearing," Synyster pulled at his jersey once they were all suited up. They each had numbers, with their moniker above it on the front instead of the back. When they emerged onto the set, carrying their death bat helmets, Raven gave a low whistle, "Nice job, Vi. This is gonna be badass."  
The following two hours were full of serious faces, angry looks, clenched fists, bared teeth with mouth guards, and eventually no jerseys.  
Raven called from behind the lense, "Alright, guys, jerseys off."  
"What? That's M.'s thing," Zacky whined.  
"Sorry, but Matt isn't the only one that looks good without a shirt on," Violet emerged out of nowhere, knocking the wind out of all of them.  
"Fuck, Violet..." Shadows couldn't make out more than a whisper as he stared. Her pleated skirt and tight lettered top were short, black, and covered in what looked like purple blood. Her socks and chest read "A7X" and her high ponytail fell in tight curls.  
"This shoot suddenly became worth it," Johnny mumbled under his breath.  
"I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming right now," Zacky followed.  
Violet sauntered up to Shadows, overly enjoying the look on his face, "Now you know how I feel." She looked around at the rest of them, "You heard him. Shirts off."  
They pulled off their jerseys and pads.  
"Fuck those are hot," Brooks breathed in relief.  
"Definitely not the only reason I'm hot right now," Synyster tried not to wipe his face as he sweated and looked Violet up and down.  
The band insisted on getting individual pics with her just for fun. Raven insisted on getting one of M. and Vi kissing, just for fun.  
Synyster whispered to Violet, "Do you know how to do a cupie?" He knew he was strong enough to hold her up, but was shaky about admitting that he knew what that was.  
She slowly looked up at him, tongue in her cheek, "I won't ask why you know what that is if you don't ask why I do."  
He agreed and put his hands on her waist, "You ready?"  
He gave her a countdown and threw her in the air, catching both her feet with one hand and catching her in his arms when he let go. They did that a couple of times before she stuck in the air. The band stared open-mouthed as Gates stood under her, one arm in the air holding her up by both feet, the other hand tauntingly inviting praise from the others. Violet beamed, hands on her hips. Raven was so shocked he almost didn't take any pictures. After he had taken several shots, Syn counted again before letting go and catching her, giving everyone around them heart attacks. To say she was impressed was an understatement. To say he was proud of himself also was. They high fived after he set her down.  
"I'd make fun of you, but I'm just so fucking impressed!" Shadows had a hilarious look on his face as he stared at Gates, "What the fuck was that cheerleader move and why the fuck to BOTH of you know how to do it?!"  
Silence and smirks.  
"She's all lookin' like that," Syn looked Violet up and down, "I'm here lookin' like this," He pointed to himself, "Thought I'd try something."  
The rest of the band stood there waiting for answers, but Vi and Syn just grinned at each other, refusing to admit to anything. Eventually they had to get on with the shoot, even though everyone's curiosity had certainly been piqued.  
As Violet and Shadows moved to set up for their shots, He saw something peak out from under her ponytail. He brushed her hair to the side.  
"You got a death bat?!" There it was, a fresh tattoo of their logo at the bottom of her neck. The guys all ran over, in awe at what she had done.  
"Why now?" Shadows couldn't help but whisper, smiling.  
"Over the last several weeks you guys have all come to mean a lot to me. I've always been a fan...it just made sense. No matter what happens, this band will always have a special place in my life."  
When M. gave her a big bear hug, the band joined in.  
"Okay, now go away, it's my turn." Shadows shooed the others away.

As they wrapped it up, Synyster came up an idea, "Ya know, as much as I don't really wanna keep this stuff on my face, we do look pretty sick. Let's go out like this."  
"I'm not going out in these pants," Shadows insisted.  
"No, just jerseys and jeans," Synyster explained and then looked at Vi, who gave them a sarcastic look when she realized she'd have to keep wearing the cheer uniform. Then she rolled her eyes in consent, "Fine." She turned to Raven, "Don't worry, I had a jersey made for you."

They rolled up to Cielo, lights flashing the second they got out. It was a little more hip hop than they usually liked, but figured it would be good for dancing. When they stopped at the bouncer, he let Violet in but put a hand on Shadows' chest. He slowly exhaled and turned to the bouncer, trying to keep his cool.  
"I'm mother fucking M. Shadows you douche."  
"Aren't we all," He tried to stand his ground, but then immediately let them by when M. took off his shades.  
When Violet walked up to the bar, she immediately got service as everyone around them noticed. They took a round of shots and then stuck with beer and went to the floor. The DJ out of nowhere went old school and LL Cool J's "Doin' It" came through the speakers. The couple laughed as Violet leaned up against him. Shadows held onto her hips as they moved against him to the ridiculously suggestive music. M. motioned to Zacky to come join them. Vengeance moved up against her body as she put one arm on his shoulder and hooked a finger through one of his belt loops. They all looked amazing and Zacky was no exception, his bright green eyes contrasted by his eyeliner and eye black. Their eyes locked a few times before she turned around so she faced Shadows. M. downed his beer and welcomed her hips against his. His dimples flashed at her as her hands held onto his torso and his held onto her hips. Since M.'s hands held there, Zacky's moved north, stopping just short of trouble. Shadows held her gaze before looking at Zacky, giving them both permission. She continued to look at M. as her hand leaned behind her head and gripped onto Zacky's hair. Zacky leaned down and caressed her shoulder and neck with his studded lips. He was going in for the kiss when Raven yanked Violet from both of their arms, "If you guys really wanna do this we can go back to the apartment, otherwise cool it." He was firm but calm, motioning them to go get drinks.  
"If you wanna get down and dirty with someone, do it with me, honey," Raven ground his hips with her. Violet upgraded to another level, dancing with him the way she really wanted to dance with Shadows--and Zacky--as the band watched. The two came back with drinks and were immediately encircled with girls, even though neither of them could keep their eyes off Violet as she danced with Raven. When the next song was over the Duo rejoined the group and she started dancing with Syn.  
"You're a real tease, sister," Syn smiled.  
"I assume we're here to have fun?" Violet joked, but Syn just shook his head.  
"You know Zack's married?"  
She looked back at him, flabbergasted, "He doesn't wear a ring...never has..."  
Syn leaned down to her ear, "They're pretty much separated, it's not looking good. He just can't handle the attention he gets on tour. Their wedding was small, kept secret, but years ago."  
While they danced, her eyes met Zacky's, and she tried to hide her surprise. She didn't like that she didn't know something so important about one of her own bands.  
"Go on, go save Shadows," Syn slapped her ass and pointed her towards where M. danced with twins. She neared them and flashed her teeth so they would scatter.  
"Thank you, baby."  
"Yeah, I'm sure you were miserable."  
He just smirked down at her. His hands rested on her hips, but then moved lower and back, pulling her closer.  
"You looked like you saw a ghost when you were with Syn..."  
She lowered her lashes, "Zacky's married?"  
He chuckled, "Oh, that. We pretty much act like he's not. Obviously...earlier being case and point. Don't feel bad for not knowing. No one does."  
The drinks kept coming and they kept dancing. Once again, Violet and Raven wound up at the band's apartment to sleep it off.

Sunday morning Violet drug her eyes lazily over Shadows' shirtless body as he slept next to her, before getting up and getting some coffee. Vengeance stood on the deck, enjoying the view and the quiet.  
"Morning," She quietly shut the door.  
"Morning sunshine." He kept his eyes on the NYC skyline, sipping his coffee.  
She cut to the chase as she sat down on the sofa, "So you're married."  
Zack hung his head between his arms, leaning back, exasperated. He eventually joined her on the sofa, fidgeting with his coffee, "So who told you?"  
"Does it matter? This is stuff I should know, Zack." Her voice was a little hurt.  
"I know..." He ran his hands through his messed up hair, "It's just so embarrassing, so I made the guys promise not to tell you."  
"Why is it embarrassing?"  
"Because I've cheated on her so many times," His guilty eyes met hers fleetingly before looking away, "It's only been three years and I could only stay faithful for the first one. I mean, none of the other guys--until Brooks--are married and we party and girls throw themselves at me...I thought I could do it, but...apparently not."  
"Zack, you should give yourself a break. I'm not saying I encourage cheating, but few people stay faithful in this business. If those guys were married, they'd cheat, too."  
Vengeance laughed sarcastically, "I think you're underestimating Matt. He's extremely faithful and usually has a ton of self restraint. He hadn't been laid in six months before you came along. On tour, that's an eternity."  
She blushed, "Well, maybe he could do it...I couldn't." She admitted.  
That blindsided him, but before he could say anything, she continued, "Do you love her?"  
This also surprised him, "Yes...but it's beyond repair, Vi. We haven't talked in three months, and that was only because she called me to threaten me with divorce."  
"Is there a reason you don't want that?"  
"She'll take me to the cleaners, Vi...not to mention the press..."  
"Speaking from a business standpoint, you should think about doing it now rather than later. You're about to be worth a hell of a lot more money. We have a lawyer and department for this, they've kept lots of divorces completely secret."  
"Really?" He seemed to slowly become more comfortable and less embarrassed, "Thank you, Violet...it would be nice to get it over with," He paused, looking down at his coffee before back at her, "So you don't think any less of me?"  
"Let's just say I'd be a hypocrite if I did."  
He gave her a look, but could tell it wasn't something she wanted to talk about.  
"No kids, right?" Violet peaked at him over her cup.  
He laughed, "No. Thank god."  
Before she got up, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "You can tell me anything, Zack. No more secrets." He nodded, and she left him with his thoughts.

Monday morning Violet called SNL to ask if they had a preference as far as what they played. As she thought they might, they wanted their two new singles--the hard core one first, the ballad second.  
They had shared the best of the football pictures on social media, after posting their limo pics the week before. Both were met with glorious acceptance and praise by their fans.  
That afternoon, Raven came into her office with an almost poster sized frame, faced away from her. He gave a big sigh before turning it around.  
Shadows stood in all his pigskin glory with her in his arms, lips claiming hers. It was amazing-almost black and white except for her purple. The Deathbat was emblazoned in the background. There was a note attached to it:  
"For your home collection. -M."  
Her jaw dropped.  
"So I assume he's seen your home collection?" Raven raised an eyebrow, knowing she had a Hail to the King poster near her bedroom. She just blushed, cleared her throat, and moved the frame to where it faced the wall.

Violet used the news from SNL as an excuse to sneak into the rear entrance to the booth to see how the band was doing. For a long time no one saw her and she sat back and enjoyed their back and forth. Eventually Syn called her out.  
"Hi, Violet!" He put his hands around his mouth to announce it. Shadows fell back in his chair, recovering slightly before she came in as the others died laughing.  
She tried to keep a straight face and ignored Shadows as he looked down at her, "SNL wants your two newest singles, just FYI."  
Shadows turned around and pouted. Violet looked at his back, "Shadows?" She nodded towards the booth, wanting to talk to him alone. The rest of the band "oooh" ed like school boys.  
"Want to be in my bedroom no matter what?" She asked, leaning on the boards.  
He tried to give her his best dimples, "Can you blame me?"  
She caved to his adorableness and slapped him on the chest, " What the hell am I supposed to do with that?!"  
He defended himself, smiling, "I don't know, hang it up?!"  
She tried to pretend to be angry at him as he obviously enjoyed himself.  
"You're welcome!" He yelled at her as she left.

**Author's Note:**

> I realize "God Hates Us" is not a song that would ever be played on late night, but oh well....  
> And, who doesn't want to fantasize about the band all done up like football players?  
> Also, here's the first real tease about Violet's addiction.


End file.
